The MATLAB (Matrix Laboratory) is a high-level programming language and interactive environment for numerical computation, visualization, and programming, developed by MathWorks. It is particularly known for its powerful, built-in capabilities for matrix and array manipulation, which makes it an extremely efficient tool for solving mathematical, scientific, and engineering problems. While its core strength is in numerical analysis, algorithm development, and data visualization, MATLAB also provides extensive capabilities for hardware control and data acquisition.
Through add-on toolboxes, such as the Instrument Control Toolbox, MATLAB can communicate directly with test and measurement equipment, including programmable power supplies. It supports various communication interfaces and standards, including GPIB, USB, LAN/Ethernet, serial, VISA, and IVI drivers. This allows an engineer or scientist to write a single script in the MATLAB environment that can perform a complete task: first, it can programmatically configure and control a power supply to provide specific stimulus to a device under test; second, it can acquire measurement data from other instruments like oscilloscopes or multimeters; and finally, it can analyze, process, and visualize that data using MATLAB's powerful mathematical and graphical functions.
This tight integration of control, acquisition, and analysis makes MATLAB a very popular choice for research, development, and automated testing applications.
MATLAB official website (https://www.mathworks.com/products/matlab.html)